Rescue Us
by Lorna Badeau
Summary: My spin of the LOTF. If Jack gave back the glasses, how does that change the whole future for the island? And I'm sorry for adding evil slash in here, but this is like the one book where it fits. Please read, I hope I dont dissapoint!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Aha, here I find myself writing a new chapter for a new story again

**A/N: Aha, here I find myself writing a new chapter for a new story again. But I got some ideas that I want to remember so I'm going to put this up anyways. I did make some of my phrases very alike to ones in the book. Also, please feel free to criticize this story. Just no flames. I DON'T OWN ANYTHING.**

**--**

_Rushing and racing and running in circles,_

_Moving so fast I'm forgetting my purpose._

_The blur of the traffic is sending me spinning,_

_Getting nowhere..._

_My head and my heart are colliding chaotic,_

_The race of the world I wish I could stop it._

_Try to appear like I've got it together,_

_I'm falling apart._

_ Slow me Down, Emmy Rossum_

There was a rush by his ears like a 'zup' and Ralph looked up at Roger. There was a glint in the painted boy's eyes that held power; a sort that was scary, yet very liberating. Ralph took a steadying breath and tried to push the curtain of hair out of his eyes, and the curtain out of his brain. It flickered and he remembered why he had come.

Fire. Glasses; Piggy's glasses. Ass-mar, no, glasses. Piggy? No glasses. But those come with Piggy. Or is it the other way around? The curtain fell again, draped his coherent thoughts.

"Ralph! Remember my glasses!"

Glasses. Fire. Jack.

Another 'zup' but this time there was no six feet safe circle. Ralph rubbed his already red cheek. Blood.

"Jack! We want the glasses. Hand them over!"

"The fire is ours! Come to our tribe, and we can have as much fire as we want!"

Fire. Fire meant glasses that meant Piggy. Piggy. He's a friend. Ralph looked over to Piggy who was shaking his head at the prospect, even if he couldn't see Ralph look in his direction.

"The glasses Ralph! Remember the fire, and rescue!" The curtain rose again, clearing way for normal thoughts. Rescue. Dad.

"Jack. We need the glasses. We need to keep a fire going in order to be rescued!"

"We don't want to be rescued."

"Yah you nut!"

"What rescue we're happy!"

"Stuff it you savages! Don't you want to go home? Get rescued? Sleep in a warm bed and see your mama's again?"

The silence that followed the statement was deafening but it was cut short by a little boy with tawny hair who started to bawl. His throat convulsed with raucous sobs that echoed all around the band of children.

The chief twisted over to Ralph.

"You! See what you've done?" he lowered his voice for emphasis, "Why should we be worried about thing far away when we've got our beast here to worry about? Boy, stop your crying. The beast will hear you!" And with that reprimand the boy stopped immediately.

"You don't even mean that. What beast huh? He won't come out now, not with all of us here. You just don't want us thinking about the old life. You _like_ being a savage, a painted menace."

"My glasses! Remember my glasses!"

Another 'zup' and another. They were falling more frequently now, like random falling leaves. It was mostly Roger; some littluns threw ones, but Roger stopped them. He wanted the power of the rocks, he liked it.

"Would you rather be savages and kill, kill, kill all day? Or go home and have tea and toast and play with your friends again!"

"Home, with a real bed. Real food."

"Home, with mum, and dad, and Elsy."

"Home, with wild ponies and dogs."

"We could show off our hunting!"

"Real meat!"

"Remember my glasses Ralph!"

"A hot stove. And soup! My teddy!"

"Mum, and my jammies. Doggy, and toys!"

"Home, with love."

"No beast."

"Ralph! Don't leave me! My glasses!"

"Enough! Stop it all of you! I'm chief here, and what I say goes. Ralph, what do you mean by causing all of this? Every one's gone mad now."

"You've gone mad!" Piggy shouted up at Jack, swerving his head like the sow on that day. He couldn't see Jack, and everyone knew it, but it was still as effective.

"Piggy," Ralph warned.

"Me! Gone mad? It's you lot. Ha, you wouldn't know mad from sane. Who gets the food? Who hunts? Who's chief?"

"Who killed Simon?" Piggy demanded.

"Who –all of us! We thought it was the beast! You were there too!"

"Not til the end. Til the very last!"

"It was dark, no one could see. And the beast was there."

"There was no beast that night. It was Simon, and we were all too stupid to realize because of that stupid circle of yours."

There was no answer. Jack snarled as he paled. He picked up his spear casually.

"Ralph my glasses!"

"I'll ask again Jack. The glasses, could we have them back? We could share the fire."

"I'm chief. I don't share what's rightfully mine."

"They're Piggy's glasses. And we can share. We'll build a fire, and you can come and take some from us."

Silence. It was like Jack was honestly thinking about the offer.

"It's pretty fair you know, _chief_."

He was still quiet. He looked stridently at Piggy, then darted his head up at Roger, exchanging a look.

"Ralph? My glasses?"

"Piggy, come here," Ralph called Piggy. He wasn't too sure about Piggy being right on the ledge at all. Especially with Jack acting crazed as of recently. "I need to discuss something with you. Sam, could you bring him to me?" He said, never once taking his eyes of the tense Jack. His spear hand ticked in Piggy's general direction.

The air was stifling and sweaty, its breath never cool. No one complained, watching the scene slowly unfold. Jack's eyes darted from each savage to the next, who in turn averted their eyes from his.

He motioned to Roger after a few minutes that trickled by like a low stream with barely any water. Roger disappeared but then came down from the mountain carrying something in his hand. It flashed when the sun glinted off of it, and Ralph had to fight himself not to grin like a mad beast.

He threw them at Ralph's feet, and it was just barely that they didn't break; they fell on a patch of grass. He picked them up, grinning now. He looked at them like he'd never seen them before, holding them up to the thinning sunlight. He handed them over to Piggy, who gasped and held them tight.

"You got them!"

"Let's go. And _chief_, anytime you need fire, just come over and we'll gladly give you some."

No response. He was probably bitter that he lost some of his power. At least he still has dignity, thought Ralph. Dignity, no, only Ralph and Piggy and Samneric still had that.

"Come along now before it gets dark."

"I can see again!"

"Good. Lets go back before they change their minds."

The curtain was lifted again, and clear thoughts were able to soar in. Ralph grinned again, happy that his thoughts weren't clouded. But he felt different.

They trudged along back to their as the sky reddened to deep colors, and along the far horizon the inky black sky was creeping in, ready to take its rightful place in due time.

--

**A/N: Haha, I did not kill Piggy at that scene. So, I hope you enjoyed it, and er, yeah. I'm slowly going in this story, and not rushing into it like my other ones. I have evil things planned for this.**


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So of course for those of you who were wondering

**A/N: So of course for those of you who were wondering...because Ralph did get the glasses back (which is totally unbelievable in the least, haha) and Jack didn't practically outlaw Ralph, that raging inferno fire that could have potentially destroyed their chances of living did not occur.**

**I had to get that off of my mind, and thanks for reading! There is also less dialogue in this section.**

**--**

With the warm embers crackling a ways by the four boys, and lighting up the area around them, sending little shadows dancing along, they talked about the next day.

"Do you think this'll last?"

"Maybe. D'ya think they'd let us go on the hunt with them?"

"I can't, my asthma-"

"Sucks to your ass-mar."

"But Ralph, we don't hunt."

"I know. But it was almost as if that one time –"

"Did you like it?"

"Not really, but almost."

"Hmm."

"Look at that star."

"Which one?" Samneric asked, sitting up. They all looked at the sky.

"No there!"

"Where?" but after that statement they didn't need directions on where to look. There was a flare of light gleaming close to the moon; it was low in the sky and lit up the inky blackness ever so slightly, like a dim, faraway light.

"Oh! It's exploding. Gosh, an exploding star!"

"That's not a star, Ralph."

"Then what is it?"

The light dimmed, but didn't go out. The section of black sky that lit up for a moment was blackened, and all you could see was a thin gleaming line going down, down, down, towards the horizon. When reaching the place where sky meets the water, the light went out like it had been extinguished sloppily.

"It was a shooting star!"

"No it wasn't Samneric, don't be silly."

"Piggy, tell us what the hell that was!"

"It was a fighter plane."

"Oh."

Silence. And then all at once like a swarm of bees, exclamations of: "What?" "Not at this hour," "Its nighttime," It's dark! They can't see!"

"They could over there. It's us who can't see because it's dark. Over there the sun is still setting, but it's still stupid for them to fight now. They should go to bed."

"It's war, they can't go to bed."

"That's still stupid then."

"Maybe they need something like a conch."

Silence again. But this time it was broken with peals of silly little boy laughter. It rang about their open beach, and was a very loud sound in a very quiet place. They grew aware of that, and became silent again. The quiet came creeping upon them, covering them like a big dark shroud. The fire began to feel cold instead of comforting warm, and the stars which they had looked upon before had turned their shining selves away behind a thin sheet of clouds. Even the man in the moon had ceased to exist, and was just a few large holes in a giant rock.

They unconsciously moved closer to each other, hoping for that scant body warmth to steal from one another, as it dissipated into the cool night air. Samneric went in-between Ralph and Piggy, who being on the outside, were colder than the inside.

"Why don't we sleep in the shelters again?" A groggy Piggy asked Ralph.

"I'm not really sure. The fire couldn't very well go inside the shelters now, could it?"

"Could you shut up? I'm trying to sleep," murmured Samneric.

"Sorry."

More silence. This one seemed the longest, and the boys could hear their breathing regulating and slowing, becoming deeper and more even. Their eyelids were heavy from sleep and their ears were shutting down their hearing, indicating a quick coming sleep.

"But if we _wanted_ to, we could right?"

"Shut up!"

"Sorry."

--

A browned lean body picked itself through some long fronds of leaves, making soft rustling noises. Just because Jack had given him the glasses back didn't mean they were at a truce; far from that really, he probably hated Ralph even more. He tried to run his fingers through his matted, light hair, but he only got so far before his fingers were stuck.

He snaggled his out of his vine-like hair, and instead used it to shield his eyes, which were blinded by the harsh sunlight glinting off of the white sand. The sun beat down on his bare torso warming it up in an instant. His shredded trousers were thin and bare, with strings resembling tassels hanging down.

Looking both sides of him before jumping into the diving pool while holding his nose, Ralph uttered a low guttural sound deep from his throat. He went under the ripples of the water, and stayed until the surface became clear again. He hadn't yet risen back up to the air when there was a crinkling sound right near where Ralph had jumped from. The flat rock sloped down, and whoever had walked over it had slipped from a slimy patch of moss. The surface of the water again rippled violently and neither of the boys came up.

From a far corner of the bathing pool, Ralph's head showed behind some rocks. He scrambled up quickly, very much like a snake slithering quickly, barely moving his eyes from the pool. His footing slipped, but being very close to the ground, his head only a few inches away from the ground, he went nowhere, and decided to move behind the rocks instead of out in the open.

Movement. It flickered in the depths of the bathing pool, and Ralph's keen eyes darted over to it. It was definitely at the bottom, he deciphered, but did the boy, or whatever it was, see him? He must have. But he may have wanted to just take a long bathe. Was that true though? It wasn't Piggy for sure, he would have died from his ass-mar down there by now. Simon? He shuddered, hopefully not. Possibly one of the twins, or Jack, maybe Roger? His mind flitted between all the names of the boys he knew. Maybe Robert, or Percival? He would find out soon, he hoped, now anxiously waiting to see when, and if, the boy would surface.

Minutes went by. Perhaps the boy had found a tunnel? Perhaps he died? No, that thought was too horrible. He was just good at breathing, was all, and could hold his breath for a long time, like those….what had he learned about? Like those….Japanese pearl divers? Ralph shook his head; this was no time to be thinking about lessons from a different time.

A red head popped up, and Ralph blew out a breath he was not aware was being held, from both relief and nervousness. Suppose the chief saw him, suppose he called his hunters on him. His heart started to beat at all the possibilities of what could happen to him. And Piggy and Samneric, who would watch them? Who would make sure they didn't get into trouble?

When his eyes came back into focus, he saw that Jack was not infact still at the bathing pool. The water rippled slightly, which was the only indication that anyone had even been there. He let out his breath again, wondering still as to why it was held in the first place. He was anxious, yes, maybe more so than other times, but why?

"Er."

The boy turned around, his warm back now against a smooth cool rock behind him. Jack was standing in front of him, hands on his hips, and as usual, naked. He averted his eyes, and instead tried to look up at the painted face. The sun glinted in his eyes again, so he put up his hands to cover his eyes. The effect was less than satisfactory; in fact, he could see less than before, although he didn't know why.

"Er." He repeated.

"Yes ch-Jack?"

"Why are you here?"

"I was waiting. Well, actually, I was bathing."

"With a rock? Does that work?" Jack asked, no hint of mockery in his voice, his tone all seriousness. Ralph tried to stifle his laughter.

"No, before you jumped in."

"Oh. That was you in the water? I wasn't sure. I heard a boy make a weird sound, and I came to see what was happening. Just in case he was hurt during a hunt or something. I thought someone fell into the water and couldn't swim back up. Like Fatty."

"Piggy."

"Whatever."

This uncharacteristic behavior from Jack was startling Ralph. His comment about Piggy was at least a little reassuring in the sense that he wasn't going crazy. But, before that, to see that Jack cared even a little bit was a tad scary for Ralph. Was he finally cracking?

"Come on then, we have a hunt soon anyways. Care to join? The twins can come too." He didn't address Piggy.

"Really?" Ralph asked, trying to keep his excitement in check; he didn't want to seem too eager. He splashed some warm water, the bathing pool water wasn't cold, on his face to make the flush on his browned cheeks go away. He wasn't sure if it was from the excitement if the impending hunt, or something else. He picked up his spear and fell into step behind Jack, who was chanting under his breath the familiar,

_"Kill the pig. Slit her throat. Bash her in."_

--

**A/N: I hope that was good! I liked it anyways.**

**Review! And complain if you want to! I seriously don't care, just no flames.**

**Thanks,**

**Lorna. **


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Whooo

**A/N: Whooo! Next installment. Tell me what you like/don't like/love/hate whatever...suggestions are open too. But no flames. I laugh at flames anyways. Constructive criticism is always ok! I don't own these babes.**

--

_Every rose has its thorns._

_ Poison_

"Wait, I almost forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"My paint." Ralph rolled his eyes. Trust the _chief_ with his paint. He almost started to laugh.

"And you carry it around with you?"

"No." The Chief gave Ralph his most withering look. Ralph just looked back at Jack lazily.

"Can we move on now?"

"I need my paint."

"Hurry up then."

"I have to find some, dammit." He said, as he was crouched down near the ground, pushing some leaves around. He suddenly snapped up, putting his hand on his hip, giving Ralph an incredulous look. "Why am I looking here? Since when has anything but crap been on this floor?" He turned on his heel and plucked a reddish fruit off of a tree, cracked it open, and dipped his fingers in it, the dye eerily resembling very congealed blood. Ralph turned away as the _chief_ used his red and stained, first and second fingers to color his face. He looked back as he finished; he had never liked the paint.

"I need some white now." He looked away as Jack found the white stuff he used for his paint. He didn't actually know what it was, nor did he care to find out, because the paint was something so savage to him that the whole island tradition of painting themselves disgusted him. The only possible benefit that it could have at all was that it severed some of the contact the sun beat upon them.

"You finished?"

"Yeah. Take a look. 'sit ok?"

"Sure."

They paused for words. It was quiet between them, the birds cawing around them, and the shrill noise of a bug coming from a nearby tree, just loud enough to make you wince. Jack looked back at Ralph from his higher point.

"You coming then?"

"Sure."

Jack grunted.

"Follow me. I know you know where it is, but...just follow me ok?"

"Sure." Jack shot Ralph a look over his shoulder.

"Is that all you can say?"

It wasn't, at least, not really. But Ralph was nervous. The screen was starting to flicker and shut in his head again, his thoughts being muddled and confused. His mouth was dry; he kept licking his lips, and though the sun beat down at that hour harder than any other time of day, he felt a chill, and shivered.

He was confused too. He looked at Jack as they walked and started to think of back home. Thinking about that was hard, not just because it hurt, but because thinking was starting to slip away, like sand between the fingers. The memories were still there, always lingering, waiting to be remembered, but being shot down each time, as if they weren't supposed to be alive. Technically they weren't, the boys were supposed to have gotten over all of their thoughts of home. Ralph though, was the only one trying to keep these alive, with the exception of Piggy and Samneric.

He wasn't sure why he couldn't keep his mind straight, and why his thoughts didn't make sense as he went back to remember them.

"Sorry. It's weird because, here I am, going hunting with the _chief_," he managed to say it with contempt, "and I hate you. Why go anywhere with someone who hates you?"

"Sucks to you," Jack said, throwing Ralph a mischievous smile as he used one of Ralph's phrases.

"Very funny."

They walked in more silence. Ralph felt as if Jack was taking him in circles, even though they both knew exactly where the camp was, from wherever they were. He played it down though, ignoring that fact and feeling safer than he had ever, since the beginning of being on the island. Which was ironic, he thought. Jack was what he was afraid of. But was that really true? There wasn't _really_ a beast, and it definitely was Jack, but what was it? He was becoming muddled again, his thoughts clouding his mind.

"I'm not a prisoner, am I?" Ralph blurted, for a moment he let a trace of fear mingle with his words. Jack looked at Ralph, a look coming over his face as if that specific idea hadn't dawned on him until then. He could have actually taken him for prisoner, but what good would that do? Would he be like a slave? But he shook the thoughts away, much to Ralph's relief.

"No, of course not. I wouldn't do that." He didn't add _to you_, which is what he wanted to, but now was not the time. Could there _ever_ be a time for that? But why had he even thought that? Would he really not have done that to Ralph, who had seemed like his biggest enemy? Perhaps he still was, but now, now was not the time to think about that.

"When do we go and hunt?"

"Soon."

"Are we going with your, er, tribe?" Jack stopped and looked at Ralph again. He noticed he had been doing this many times, stopping and looking at Ralph. He really thought about it, nodded his head even.

"I don't think so. I don't really want to anyways." He said before he really knew what he was thinking.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

It wasn't quite the silences that were frustrating the both of them, because they weren't awkward. It was the fact that they had nothing to say. You'd think that they would be talking about something, but they weren't.

"Well this is weird."

"You think so?" He paused. "What is?"

"Well, this, you know? I feel that you should hate me, and be trying to kill me..." he trailed off.

"But I don't. So why push it, Ralph?"

Silence again. This time it may have gone for half an hour until one of the boys said anything at all.

"Are we going hunting or not?"

"I don't really want to anymore."

And it was true, neither of the boys wanted, nor really cared to go hunting that day. Their initial excitement had ebbed away to a calm contentment that they wanted to preserve. If anything, now they were actually sleepy, though they had had a good night sleep and the sun was just past its zenith.

They didn't notice, that with walking all their distance, that they had come upon the mountain where the beast lay.

"Jack, shouldn't we go see if the beast is still, well, there?"

"We could. And if we see it, we can kill it. I am in fact, a hunter, and I can sing C sharp better than anyone." Ralph grinned in spite of himself. It was refreshing to see the regular Jack again. He felt chilled again, and shuddered. It was funny, he thought, how Jack could be almost two wholly different people.

They walked up the mountain, which took then a considerable while, and by the time they reached the cave, the sun was no longer so high up in the sky, and hung low casting long shadows and shade. Both Ralph and Jack shivered; the wind had picked up a breeze, not too noticeable, but when they weren't under the sun, it was a biting cold.

"Should we head back? Maybe we can come again to –"

"No. We should go now. There's still some light."

"Sure."

"Don't start _that_ again."

The cave was chilly, seeing as it never got any light, but after a quick inspection, they saw it was clear. The beast that they had all supposed lived in the cave was not there, and it really _would_ make a great fort. The light was ebbing quicker now. Jack straightened up and dusted his hands on his legs.

"I think this is a good spot, what about you?"

"Sure." He added hastily, as Jack sent him an exasperated look. "But um, for what?"

"To sleep."

"But, god, isn't it going to be cold?"

"We have fire don't we –oh, no. We don't."

"So what are we going to do?"

"How were you ever chief? You keep asking me what to do, and if something's ok, man, I don't know how you were ever elected. It probably because you were _handsome_ or something."

"Er."

"You know, it always about the looks. The better looking one always gets the job. I'm better than you, but..."

"Er."

"See? You're gobsmacked. I don't know how on earth you were able to keep those assemblies even going. What goes on in that pretty little head of yours?"

"Er."

"Nothing, I know. You don't even have to tell me." He looked around him, as if he was going to tell a secret so dear to him. He leant forward, his face a hair breadth away from Ralph's. "Do you still remember?"

"Remember what?" The words remember intrigued him. He didn't like to do a lot of remembering. It hurt too much; but he needed to.

"The way life was. You know, you had a pretty good system going until the stupid beast –"

"The beast wasn't real."

"Shut up. Anyways, it was a good, model civilization. Kind of like back home." He said _back home_ eagerly, like he was waiting for a response from Ralph. But Ralph just turned away, a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"Home...yeah. There's still some light outside, I'm going to find some leaves and crap so we don't have to sleep on cold, hard and gray stone." He got up and left quickly, his shadowy figure fading into the red light, which was fading as well. _Fading_. He could use that word so many times. Use it for so many things. Memories, will, survival, hope of being rescued, light, friends...everything.

He shook those thoughts away, like he did to most everything else. He needed leaves right now, and soft ones too. After he found them, he trudged back in, facing his back to the already long-gone sun. He just needed some sleep, that's all.

--


End file.
